In today’s workplace, collaboration can be both a blessing and a curse. Rarely will one person be able to both start and finish an entire project on their own, especially if that project encompasses various people or departments within your organization. Knowing this, it’s crucial that you know how to work with a team and foster an atmosphere of collaboration. And although it’s not uncommon for some co-workers not to get along on a personal level, with the right views on collaboration, almost anyone can work on a team that produces positive results. To show you how, here are three tips for having successful collaboration at work.
Create Your Dream Team
To have a truly successful team working collaboratively, you’ve got to be strategic about the people you place on that team. Simply picking a few random participants won’t necessarily get you the results you want or need. That’s why, according to Kevin Daum, a contributor to Inc.com, you’ve got to pick your team members carefully. Think about what you want the team to accomplish and then only add members that can positively contribute to that end goal. Bringing in people with different skills, experiences, and ideas can be the difference between a team that exceeds expectations and a team that fails to meet expectations.
Deal With Issues Quickly and Respectfully
Regardless of how much the people on your team may appear to get along as co-workers, once you’re actually working on a project together, things are bound to get sticky every so often. But it’s not the actual disagreements that can damage a collaborative team—it’s how those disagreements are dealt with. Meghan M. Biro, a contributor to Forbes.com, writes that as long as issues are handled quickly and respectfully, they can actually have a positive impact on the group by helping to build openness and honesty. However, if resentments are left to grow, they can cause the group to spin out of control and become dysfunctional. For this reason, try to encourage your group to deal with any problems that arise with haste and tact.
Keep Everyone In The Loop
A group can only be as useful as its member allow it to be, and one of the biggest things that can aid in this department is communication. Andrew Field, a contributor to American Express Open Forum, shares that group cohesion is best formed when everyone is kept in the loop. This means that each member should be made aware of how the project is progressing, who’s working on which sections, what the plans for the future are, and what is expected of them individually. With each member knowing exactly how the group is functioning, great collaboration can be fostered.
If your business or employees have been having a hard time with collaboration, use the tips mentioned above to make this area of work more positive.
